coming up, after the break -- >> did he ride in your helicopter that day? >> yes. >> why aldon smith got to ride in the sheriff's helicopter and shoot the department's high powered weapons? the sheriff's answers next.

>> welcome back. the sheriff claims there was no preferential treatment for aldon smith. now another decision by the sheriff and a weekend in june at the shooting range. >> did aldon smith receive preferential treatment? >> he did. >> a sequence of events started on june 20 of 2012. a party at aldon's smith 8,000 square foot home in the east san jose foothills. it ended in a shootout. smith was tab stabbed and two party guests were shot. >> all of a sudden he's under investigation by your department, right? >> he is the victim of a crime with our department. >> the sheriff's department began investigating immediately following the shootings and stabbing at aldon smith's party. an investigation that spanned 15 months.

during that time behind this gate on a saturday this past june, an event at the sheriff's shooting range. to raise money for the sheriff's advisory board. >> did you see aldon smith there? >> yes. >> did you interact with him? >> i may have talked to him. >> did he ride in your helicopter that day? >> yes. >> shooting rifle, a helicopter ride and socializing with the sheriff and members of her department. >> there are some in your department that say that's a conflict of interest. >> why? why? >> because his party, he may have been under investigation by your department. >> why do you say he's under investigation? he's a victim of that. at his house. >> a curious response, because just two days after that

interview, 15 months after her department started its investigation, the district attorney filed criminal charge against aldon smith, labelled a defendant, charged with three counts of possessing illegal assault weapons. found by sheriff smith's investigators in aldon smith's bedroom while investigating his party. >> she invites him to the range to shoot weapons. she allows him to fly in the helicopter. is that a problem? >> it appears to be a problem, y e. >> kevin rien is a retired san francisco judge and former u.s. attorney for the district of northern california. >> it doesn't look good. it doesn't feel good. >> rory lit sl a professor of legal ethics at the uc hastings college of law. and a former federal prosecutor. >> both reviewed the facemasks vournding that saturday at the shooing range.

>> does that raise questions about the integrity of the investigation? >> it presents issues of appearance, and it could very well lead to the ultimate conclusion that there might bf issues affecting the integrity of the investigation. >> did the sheriff make a mistake by allowing aldon smith to come to this event to shoot her weapons, to fly in her helicopter? >> based on what we know, it sounds like it's a mistake. a mistake in judgment or public perception. yeah. she probably thinks she made a mistake, too. >> at a minimum, the district attorney is probably going to look at the situation and want to talk to the sheriff's office and make sure the investigation wasn't in any way tainted. >> yofrk are i don't think it's wise or justifiable for him to

be at the range firing with ammuniti ammunition. >> you think there was something wrong with it? i don't. why aren't they coming to me and questioning me? >> it's important to stress by all indications sheriff smith did not break the law, but as you heard, experts call it a mistake in judgment. after leaving a rehab program, aldon smith turned himself in at the sheriff's department. he posted bail and his since entered a not guilty plea to the felony weapons charges. now coming up after the break, we investigate crime statistics inside police sources speaking out. the city of san jose getting caught in a numbers game.

the numbers don't lie. or do they? san francisco's biggest city boasted that gang crime has gone down considerably.

but high-ranking sources in the san jose police department revealed the city was playing a numbers game with crime statistics. investigative reporter broke the story. >> it was the night before memorial day. >> he's got headphones on, listening to his music. it wasn't that he was fearless. he had no idea how much danger he actually was in. >> d.j. watkins was murdered on his way home from working at game stop. just three days shy of his 21st birthday. >> police told you that was it was a gang-related murder. >> gang related. >> jarrell watkins said hez nephew just moved here from ohio and he was not in a gang. but he was in a known gang neighborhood at the too many of his murder. >> my nephew to get baptized

four weeks to the day that he died, that's somebody who knew that their time was up. >> d.j. was gone. but it's his story, the stories of others murdered. >> you don't ever want to experience that. >> enand the message police were about to send the public. >> statistically, we're doing great. >> i don't know how stupid they think we are, but we are we're not that stupid. >> the reductions. >> gang issues. >> around at the same time. >> gang related violent crime is certainly a concern for us. >> san jose was promoting its new gang suppression plan for the summer. it saturated gang hot spots. the results -- some impressive stats. gang-related crime down in every category from last year. >> that plan, we found that it was very successful.

>> and that success flooded headlines. >> we're proud of ostaff here. >> but we found the city isn't tell i don't go uh the whole story. >> the city is saying grang related crime is shutdown. is that true? >> no, it's not true. i think my first reag was shock and then anger because's not true. it's a lie. >> both with inside knowledge of gang related cases. we altered their appearance and voices. so you're seeing the department is lying to the public right now about gang-related activity in the city? >> it plmt claims from january through august of last year, there were 14 lang related murders. this year, eight.

>> here's what the san jose police department didn't tell you. it changed the way it classified gang-related murders. in houston it decided homicide are gang related only if police have confidence the motive was to benefit a gang. that mean just because a gang member commits a crime doesn't make it gang related. police then heteroactivity aflied this stricter criteria to all ideas in 2013. they compared those numbers to gang-related murders in 2012 which didn't have the stricter criteria. revealing a dramatic drop. >> is it really an accurate picture of what's happening? >> it's not. >> like the murder of francisco lugo, it was a gang-related case

because san jose police say gang members were involved. but it was changed to nongang related based on the new criteria. of the eight cases police classified as gang related this year, d.j. watkins isn't one of them. >> well, i can't speak for the others, but i can speak for mine. my nephew got killed in a gang area and now you're saying it wasn't gang related? how many other cases has he done that to? >> two other teenagers were murdered the same day as d.j. watkins. police say it wasn't gang related lither. but the suspected killers are both charged in another case as gang heb mebs for attempting to murder someone to ben git their gang. robert rios is a former gang member. he now spends his time trying to stop the violence pop i think it would be my kids. it could be my friends' kids. >> which is why he said the public needs to know what's really happening in their neighborhood.

>> we have a problem. we have a gang problem. we're not going to make it go away by lying to the people. >> the commander of the homicide unit, even the public relations officers denied our request for an interview. >> there's a false perception about what's really going on in the neighborhoods. >> in hindsight, we wouldn't make that comparison, believe me. >> only after our original report aired did the police chief agree to talk to us. >> you're right. i mean, you're right, jenna. it is apples to oranges, it is. and it's not a true or fair comparison. >> he says the department won't be using those stats anymore. and then he apologized. >> i apologize to citizens. we don't want to hide. it's important for me to be

transparent and report correctly. i can guarantee you, that mistake is not going to happen again. >> as for d.j.'s case, no suspect lab identified. >> we heard people say all the time, you know, you don't ever want to experience that. part of you just dies. >> and the truth about the number, about how safe san jose really is also remains a mystery. >> the chief also told jenna we still don't know if or by how much gang suicide are down in the city. up next, pot growers on national parkland. illegal squatters and the toll they are taking on rare wild life.

>> woel come back. it's trashing environment and killing the water supply, all on land protected using taxpayer dollars. the destruction caused by illegal pot farmers. >> flying high above some of the country's most well known national parks. look closely and you'll see it. thousands of cake acres go on or near forest service land at a marijuana growth sight. >> it's a huge problem. almost an epidemic in our community. >> an epidemic with destructive effects that now goes bond the plibs of pot. >> there's a massive use of

toxins out there. >> they're specifically targeting animals. anything that is going to kill a bear is going to kill me as well. >> it's not what they are growing but how they're doing it that ease wreaking havoc on california's rarest species and most precious resources. >> so far this year, the fresno county sheriff department has identified more than 500 growth sites and seized more than 2400 plants. and roughly 500,000 plants were found on national parkland statewide. >> how far away from federal land? >> just over that hill. >> lieutenant rick koe say is part of the marijuana rerad case task force.

>> natural? >> absolutely not. pesticides and other things were faced on this to protect it. >> so it's found on our public lands. >> this was a 5-year-old pacific fisher. one of only 300 left in northern california. scientists found this one met an early death in yosemite last month. it's part of a population that's been exposed to an illegal form of rat poison. >> how deadly are these chemicals? >> they're acutely poisonous. >> so strong, a teaspoon can kill a 500-pound lion. pot farmers are using 50 times that on a single plant to keep animals away from their crops. gabe yelle has found 50% of the fishers he's studying have been exposed to the poison. six have died so far.

with the help of a wild life biologist, they tag the fishers and set up cameras to track them. we hiked into one of those recently abandoned grow sites where we saw the crash. >> you'll see cans and things. >> and poison left after growers finish the crop. so many species are dependent. northern spotted owls, fishers. >> last year, a government task force spent $23 hunting down and seizing marijuana plants on public land in california. but little funding is set aside for the clean-up. and that could have affects even beyond the wildlife for years to come. >> what happens when it goes downstream? >> basically, it's flowing in with the water. and then picked up by the spe e species who can use it most readily. >> i don't want to drink from

the creek now. >> dawn blake lives on the reservation located neuroeureka. she believes it's only a matter of time before the tox sibs in the water make those in the community sick. >> marijuana operations are potentially destroying the landscape. >> they're killing the animals, they're killing the forest and they don't care. >> hikers like rick fleming fear the water could affect them as well. because of the proximity of the growth sights to water sources. he's part of a nonprofit dedicated to cleaning up what growers are leaving behind. >> if we can go in there and safely pick it up and get it out, then great. >> it's a green rush. >> a green rush for marijuana instead of gold. and it affects our environment.

dianne feinstein sent a letter asking for help in fighting the damage caused by pop growers in the central valley. if you have a story for the investigative unit, call our tip line at 888-996 tips. or send an e-mail to the unit at nbc bay area.com. finally, you're invited to join us right here on nbc bay area. why? because we investigate. thanks for joining us. [ male announcer ] you can change your tomorrow

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welcome to "on the money." i'm maria bartiromo. my conversation with jack bogle. the founder of vangaurd. what he says about the market bubble. minimum wage, maximum debate. we're raising salaries and more people into the middle class or will it stop the creation of much needed jobs. i'll talk to one of the first tv stars to turn entrepreneur. suzanne somers with life after threes company. "on the money" begins right now. >> this is america's number one financial news program. "on the money." now maria bartiromo. here is a look at what's making news. it was a historic week on wall